I sang a little while and then flew on.

The previous night was one of the weakest shows of '89 so it's a surprise that this one is not quite as good as that.The show's a wash - flubbed & flat with no total trainwrecks, but suddenly getting it together in places (end of Jack Straw) seems brilliant by comparison. Both the '89 run and the '90 run get better each day but the latter run is much better, if you haven't heard it yet. The next night was a Letterman appearance - just Weir and Garcia with the rest having a night off.

First Set. Helena, an average version, was used on Weir Here. Jer is low in the mix - is that why they used it? The set is very flat & disorganized throughout, bottoming at Tennessee Jed (honey come quick the dynana). An above average Queen Jane is the one bright spot though the second half of Jack Straw is good enough to leave 'em charged into halftime.

Second Set. Flat and flubby except for Drums>Space (Bobby briefly teases Truckin' and Mickey gets to the psychedelia quickly) and The Other One. The latter takes a minute to pick up on Jer before launching. I like '89 TOOs because of Brent doing minor dissonants and Phil changing his rumble. Of course it also means Bobby doing rounnownyall and this one has Healy seeing if he can mess with Bobby's vox.

1st Set:  D-
2nd Set: D+
Overall = 1¼ stars (one star show + ¼ star for okay Drums>Space>TOO sequence)

Highlights:
nope

RUN:
11th 1½ stars [D+, D]
13th Letterman
14th 2 stars [C+, D]
15th 3 stars [C+, B-]
16th 3½ stars [B+, C]

SOURCES: The walker-scotton 83293 SBD has the best image and patch continuity, but runs 1% slow. Adding 1% is just enough to improve the sound. Hell in a Bucket is on Weir Here.

great mix; worth a listen

a killer jack straw for the ages

A+++ quality of course

Grate show. Grate remaster by C Miller. I love 1989 shows. I think it's because they had so many songs by then and they were firing on all cylinders.